Report confirms passive smoking fears

No infant, child or adult should be exposed to passive smoking because of the hazards to health, a leaked report has revealed.

The Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health (Scoth) report to Government confirms that second-hand smoke significantly increases the risk of lung cancer and heart disease.

The pro-smoking lobby and the tobacco industry have disputed claims that passive smoking is a significant danger to non-smokers.

But the leaked report by some of Britain's top medical scientists, first published in London's Evening Standard, concluded that "second-hand smoke represents a substantial public health hazard".

Calls for a smoking ban

Campaigners Action on Smoking and Health (Ash) said that the Scoth report had been handed to the Government four months ago, but Health Secretary John Reid has yet to make the findings public.

Ministers are preparing to publish their long-awaited Public Health White Paper next month which is expected to include measures to limit smoking in public places but stop short of a total ban, covering all restaurants and pubs.

Campaigners say the majority of the public back a public smoking ban, as introduced in the Irish Republic, and accuse the Government of inaction over the issue.

The Scoth report reveals that there is 24% increased risk of lung cancer for non-smokers who are exposed to second-hand smoke, confirming previous findings.

The experts said that the weight of evidence for the risk of heart disease among passive smokers was now stronger than their last report in 1998 - with around a 25% increased danger.

They said that children were at particular risk from second-hand smoke.

"Children are at greatest risk in their homes and the evidence strongly links second-hand smoke with an increased risk of pneumonia and bronchitis, asthma attacks, middle ear disease, decreased lung function and sudden infant death syndrome," the report said.

'Hazardous nature'

The experts said that overall exposure to second-hand smoke had declined as less people were smoking.

"However, some groups, for example bar staff, are heavily exposed at their place of work and almost half of all children still live in households with at least one smoker," they added.

The committee said that knowledge of the "hazardous nature" of passive smoking had been consolidated in the last five years.

They concluded: "This is a controllable and preventable form of indoor air pollution.

"It is evident that no infant, child or adult should be exposed to second-hand smoke."

Ash said the health risks from exposure to second-hand smoke in both the home and the workplace were causing several thousand premature deaths a year in the UK.

Prof Konrad Jamrozik, from Imperial College London, has estimated that 700 premature deaths are caused each year in the UK by exposure to passive smoking in the workplace.

'No excuses'

Ash director Deborah Arnott said the Scoth report showed that leading medical experts had concluded that second-hand smoke was a serious risk to public health.

"It is deeply worrying that the Government has sat on this for months - it should have been published in good time to inform debate around the Public Health White Paper.

"Remarkably, on TV yesterday, the Secretary of State for Health was still referring to the 'possible' health effects of second-hand smoke," Ms Arnott said.

"The report shows that there is no longer any excuse to deny the health damage caused by second-hand smoke.

"It also shows the absurdity of exempting from any new law the very group of employees most exposed to risk.

"November's White Paper must follow the Irish model and end smoking in the workplace once and for all. The clear lesson of the report is that nothing less will do," she said.

Prof John Britton, chair of the Royal College of Physicians' Tobacco Advisory Group, added: "The leaked Scoth report confirms what all other health organisations have been telling the Government over many years - that passive smoking causes death and disease, particularly in bar workers.

"There can now be no excuse for not introducing a total ban on smoking in enclosed public places as soon as possible.